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This past weekend, I rewatched the WWII movie Valkyrie (2008) with my brother. (He, like me, is a history nerd and was the one who talked me into watching Lawrence of Arabia, for which I'm perpetually grateful.) I don't believe I reviewed Valkyrie last time, so it seemed like a good time to talk about it and about history-themed movies in general.

Tom Cruise plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a Nazi officer, family man, and Catholic, who is tormented by his conscience and the events of the war. In 1943, he joins a number of collaborators planning a political-military coup, which ultimately involves a plan to assassinate Hitler. The genius of the plot is that it uses Hitler's own backup plan, "Operation Valkyrie," against him by feigning an emergency. The movie zooms in on July 20, 1944, when Stauffenberg and his fellow officers attempt to carry out the assassination and coup.

The first thing to get out of the way is the casting. Now, don't get me wro…

Cleo's twist on today's Top Ten Tuesday is right up my alley. I've been reviewing books for a while now, and sometimes it's nice to reflect on what I've written about books in the past.

Here's ten of my favorite book reviews, some old and some newer (for simplicity's sake, not including podcast episodes or movie reviews, only written book reviews):

1. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - This is long overdue for another reading (plus a reading of Chinua Achebe's criticism of the book). That said, I still like my theory about Kurtz being Marlowe's alter-ego!

2. Amerika by Franz Kafka - Kafka is tricky to review; in spite of that, I think here I hit upon all the important points.

3. The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe - Should I apologize for this??? I took WAY too much delight in this scathing review of a book by Goethe (of all people). I don't often write negative reviews, but when I do... whew!

So...contrary to my past practices, I am starting to embrace epic challenges. Before this enthusiasm leaves me, I've decided to finally join The Classics Club and commit to reading 50 classics within five years.

It's a pretty reasonable goal (ten classics a year), since I mostly read classics anyway. But I'm making it more difficult by including some chunksters and books I've been putting off for years and some that fall under both (*cough* War and Peace). I also threw in some rereads that I keep meaning to return to. The list also came out to 52 instead of 50 (sigh), but I'm only committing to 50.